Become a volunteer docent!

Become a volunteer docent!

ByGGBA

Do you love wildlife? Do you love Bay Area nature? Share your passion with others as a volunteer docent with Golden Gate Bird Alliance. We’re seeking volunteers to be Burrowing Owl docents and Birding the Bay Trail docents, and will hold annual trainings for each of these roles in September.

Birding the Bay Trail Docents:

Docents help people spot birds along the Bay Trail

Share the birds along the Bay Trail with residents and visitors. You do NOT need to be an expert birder — just able to identify one or two common shorebirds or ducks.

Teams of two docents go out to pre-selected sites along the beautiful Bay Trail in Richmond and share spotting scope views of the various ducks and shorebirds that make the Bay Area their winter home each year.  Training and materials are provided.  Volunteers are asked to spend two hours once or twice a month from October through March.  This year’s training is on Thursday, September 28, from  6 to 8 p.m.  at the Golden Gate Bird Alliance office in Berkeley.  If you’re interested in attending the training, please RSVP to Noreen Weeden at 510-301-0570 or volunteer@goldengatebirdalliance.org.

Burrowing Owl Docents 

Burrowing Owl in November 2014 by Miya Lucas

Help us continue a tradition of public education and protection for our local Burrowing Owls, when they return to Cesar Chavez Park in Berkeley for the winter. Experience the joy as people see their first owl through a spotting scope or binoculars.

 This fall the Golden Gate Bird Alliance will be training additional docents to talk with the public about this locally endangered species and to help document information about these owls. Volunteers should be able to spend one to two hours per visit, at least two times a month, from October through March.

Training will take place on Saturday, September 23, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Shorebird Nature Center in Berkeley. Interested? RSVP to Noreen Weeden at 510-301-0570 orvolunteer@goldengateaudubon.org.

…
Osprey nest cam news

Osprey nest cam news

ByGGBA

Thank you to everyone who has been following our Osprey nest cam on the Richmond shoreline! We had sad news on Saturday, July 9. Whirley, the older chick, was not able to survive the injuries sustained before s/he was fished out of the Bay last week.  We are reprinting excerpts from WildCare’s letter to the Osprey cam community below.

Meanwhile, Rivet — Whirley’s younger and more cautious sibling — has started taking short flights with lots of parental supervision and is doing well. If you don’t see Rivet or the parent Ospreys on the cam for a few minutes, don’t worry! They are probably flying, perching, or resting nearby. Check the “Around the nest” camera — one or more of the family is often perched on the crane’s beams near the nest.

Thank you so much to everyone who tried to help Whirley — WildCare, of course, but also the Dutra barge crew who fished the bird out of the Bay, our Osprey volunteers, and all the well wishers whose hearts were with Whirley. It is a rare privilege to have such an intimate view of a family of wild creatures, but with that privilege comes all the risk and pain of a wild life.

At Golden Gate Bird Alliance, we are committed to giving Bay Area wildlife the best possible shot at long, healthy lives and survival as species. Ospreys and other birds will always face natural threats such as diving accidents and predators, but we can minimize the risks added by humans such as trash, pollution, building collisions, and destruction of habitat.

Want to help make the Bay Area a better habitat for Rivet and other wild birds? Come to one of our habitat restoration events. Join one of our conservation committees. Or tell your friends about simple steps such as recycling their fishing line and properly disposing of trash and household chemicals.

Letter from WildCare

Dear friends:

It is with a heavy heart that we share with you the news that Whirley did not make it. The CT scan confirmed the multiple fractures that we had feared on x-rays and also clearly revealed even more structural and muscular damage beyond those. The severities of her injuries are consistent with a high velocity impact which could’ve been with a structure of some kind but due to the absence of external wounds, it is also a fair hypothesis that these were sustained from a water impact during a fishing attempt.…

Celebrate autumn with a birding class

Celebrate autumn with a birding class

ByGGBA

Are you curious about the birds in your backyard or neighborhood park? Do you know a little bit about birds but want to learn more? Or are you an experienced birder who wants to take your enjoyment and knowledge to a whole new level?

Whatever your experience level or interest… we’ve got a birding class for you this fall!

In addition to our usual line-up of excellent and convenient East Bay classes, we’re delighted to offer a Beginning Birding class in San Francisco for the first time in several years.

Birding class at MLK Shoreline in Oakland / Photo by Ilana DeBare

Choose from the following classes:

Beginning Birdwatching (meets next to Ashby BART in Berkeley)

Wild Birds of the Bay Area (for beginning and intermediate birders, meets at Fort Mason in San Francisco)

Appreciating Birds: Journaling and Field Sketching

Raptor ID in a Day (meets in Marin Headlands)

Birds of the Bay Area

Avian Treasure Hunt: Fall Migration

Birding By Ear

Registration opens for some of these classes on August 9, and for the rest of them on August 16. For dates, details, and registration links, see our Classes web page.

Our instructors are expert birders who share their passion in a welcoming, accessible manner.  Expand your understanding of the wildlife all around us… explore beautiful natural areas… meet new friends… and make autumn 2017 a season you’ll remember.…

Our nest cam Ospreys hatch their second chick!

Our nest cam Ospreys hatch their second chick!

ByGGBA

Now we have two Osprey chicks!

Richmond and Rosie, the Osprey pair at the center of our live video feed in Richmond, hatched their first chick on Friday morning, May 12! Then their second hatched on Sunday, May 14, Mother’s Day. Osprey fans suggested and voted on names for the two youngsters — Whirley (in honor of the Whirley Crane where the nest is sited), and Rivet (in honor of the nearby Rosie the Riveter memorial).

Here’s a clip of the first chick and parents shortly after it hatched:

And here are some photos from the video feed of new the new arrival:

The new chick is already holdings its head up and demanding food! Shirley, the older chick, receives bits of fish from one parent while the other stands watch on May 12. Note the second egg nearby, which had not yet hatched.

“Ospreys are successfully nesting along the edges of San Francisco Bay for the first time in recorded history,” said Cindy Margulis, Executive Director of Golden Gate Bird Alliance. “The presence of these charismatic raptors highlights the environmental progress that’s been made in our region, and underscores the opportunities for people to help Ospreys prosper here. We believe that witnessing the life of an Osprey family along our urban shoreline can inspire the whole community to protect Ospreys and other Bay Area wildlife.”

Nest and wildlife cams have become a media phenomenon in recent years: Last year, a nest cam focused on Bald Eagles in Washington D.C. drew over 63 million views. The Bay Area’s Peregrine Falcon cameras have been popular for a while too. However, the unique vantage point of the Whirley Crane nest will thrill wildlife watchers as the Ospreys are raising their family on historic real-estate, with a commanding view of the Bay and the S.F. skyline from the nest camera.

Night image with infrared camera

Ospreys are one of nature’s wildest raptors, yet they are now choosing to breed near people – even using human-made structures like the Whirley Crane. While Ospreys historically nested along Northern California lakes, none had been documented nesting on the Bay’s edge before the 1990s. Their numbers started growing in the 2000s, and by 2016 there were 42 known Osprey pairs nesting and 51 new Osprey fledglings joined the summer population last season.

Golden Gate Bird Alliance’s new Osprey nest cams operate 24/7, with infrared cameras allowing night viewing without disturbing the birds. …

End of content

End of content